Shawn Mendes Seemingly Addresses Speculation About His Sexuality in New Song 'The Mountain'

Mar. 15, 2025

Shawn Mendes.Photo:Udo Salters/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Udo Salters/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Shawn Mendesis letting his music do the talking.

On his ongoing For Friends and Family Tour, the “Treat You Better” singer has been performing his upcoming song “The Mountain,” and he appears to weigh in on conversations about his sexuality in its lyrics.

“Some days, I have a change of heart / You can say what you need to say,” Mendes, 26, sang onstage, according to a fan’s video footage shared onTikTok. “You can say I’m too young / You can say I’m too old / You can say I like girls or boys / Whatever fits your mold.”

At the shows, Mendes — whodated Camila Cabello on and off for yearsand has beenpublicly linked to Sabrina Carpenter— performed new music from his forthcoming self-titled LP, out Nov. 15.

Mendes has spoken about his sexuality in the past. In conversation withDax Shepardon hisArmchair Expertpodcastin 2020, hediscussed feeling like he had to clear up rumorsabout his orientation.

Shawn Mendes.Wagner Meier/Getty

Wagner Meier/Getty

“It was so, so frustrating for me because there were some people in my life that I was very, very close to, who were gay and in the closet,” Mendes told Shepard.

He continued, “And I felt like this real anger for those people. It’s such a tricky thing. You want to say, ‘I’m not gay, but it’d be fine if I was gay — but also there’s nothing wrong with being gay, but I’m not.’ You don’t really know how to respond to the situation.”

At the time, Mendes said he’d been called “gay” since he was 15 years old — and it affected him.

“I’m not gay, and I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ I had these problems with the way my voice sounded. I’m like, ‘How do I sit?’ I’m always first to cross my legs and sit with a position of this feminine style and I really suffered with that s—,” he added.

Still, the situation opened his eyes and made him realize he wasn’t alone in feeling that way.

Mike Coppola/Getty

“I think a lot of guys go through that and even worse than that there are just so many guys who are gay and in the closet and must be hearing s— like that and just being like, ‘I’m terrified to come out,'” he said.

In 2018, the “Stitches” singer got vulnerable about the rumors and toldRolling Stone, “I’d like to say I don’t care about it, but that’s not true,”

“In the back of my heart, I feel like I need to go be seen with someone — like a girl — in public, to prove to people that I’m not gay,” he said at the time, adding that “even though in my heart I know that it’s not a bad thing,” there is “still a piece of me that thinks that. And I hate that side of me.”

source: people.com